Saturday April 27, 2013
Sunny and Mild
Istanbul, Turkey
After a long but comfortable flight from Tokyo to Istanbul, I’m finally here. The flight was uneventful but I have to say, flying Turkish airlines was fabulous! Given the lack of sleep I had that week, I asked for an upgrade to economy plus which was the best $$$ ever spent. It was very close to business class with impeccable service. The service started with a piece of Turkish Delight – my first one ever and delicious.
12 hours later due to strong headwinds, I arrived in sunny and warm Istanbul after flying over Russia and over the Black Sea. And arrived to crowds like I’ve never seen before in an airport except for maybe when I arrived in Tokyo years ago during the soccer World Cup. Fortunately, no lines for the Visa which was basically buying a stamp for 20 USD, but the passport control was nuts. Took over one hour to get to through passport control. But fortunately, my bags arrived quickly and there was no custom control.
Once out though, again massive crowds. Fortunately found my driver (by now I’m dripping in sweat) and luckily I was told the traffic eased a bit so was able to get in the car and head to the office. Well, thought I’d be there in 15 minutes…. but no, the traffic. But great scenery. Tulips everywhere with families and young couples barbecuing and relaxing on a Friday night along the Marmara Sea.
Arrived finally one hour later, to the beautiful Intercontinental Hotel. Mary apparently just checked in 15 minutes earlier even though she arrived about one hour before me. Couldn’t find her in the room, so took a quick shower, and figure she was either at the healthclub or at the ambassador lounge. And I found her at the lounge! We had a glass of wine with Karen – a lady who was in Istanbul with her husband and got some tips of where to go. And since we were only at the Intercontinental which has a famous bar overlooking the Bosphorus River, we enjoyed a glass of local red wine with local cheeses to end the day. The cheese came with walnuts which were the freshest walnuts. I have to say after the hazelnuts I had on the plane and now walnuts, I am going to have to buy nuts to bring back to Japan.
Given it was 11pm by the time we got back, I crashed (literally fell asleep when my head hit the pillow) while Mary coming from the States caught up on US TV given she was wired. We both came from opposite directions so are on completely opposite jet lag schedules.
Looking forward to the next day where we start the day with Turkish Baths!
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